Kyle Busch Scores First Kansas Sprint Cup Victory

Kyle Busch celebrates his first Kansas victory

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It took Kyle Busch 17 tries, but on Saturday night, he finally has a Kansas Speedway winner's trophy in his hands.

17 tries. 14 seasons. Over 150 laps led. One of only three tracks he hadn't won at.

Now, that number is down to two.

Kyle Busch led the final 37 laps to beat out Kevin Harvick to win the Go Bowling 400 and score his third win of the season and finally get the monkey off his back at Kansas Speedway.

"This is pretty big – man, there's been a lot of rough days here at Kansas, that's for sure," said Busch, who now has 37 career Sprint Cup victories. "It was a really great day. I didn't know that we'd have that much speed in our racecar. I guess I should have known, but Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and these guys, you know, they continue to impress me each and every week."

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"] Although he'd won at Kansas track in the Camping World Truck and Xfinity Series, Kyle Busch hadn't had much luck in the Cup Series, tallying three-straight DNF's from 2012- 13. He'd gotten closer to his first win in his last two starts, posting top-five finishes at the track for the first time in his career.

Now, just Charlotte and Pocono stand in his way of conquering every track on the circuit.

"There's two that I haven't won at and those two I've had so many opportunities to win at those places," said Busch. "I've not had very many opportunities to win here, so I'm pretty confident that we can knock those off the list. It's certainly been some tough roads along the way here at Kansas, but it's certainly nice to win this one."

Polesitter Martin Truex, Jr. led a race-high 172 laps and was in command for almost the entire middle half of the race after Kyle Busch lost the lead on lap 57, going on to lead 148 of the next 153 laps.

Martin Truex, Jr. led 172 laps before being done in by problems on pit road

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Following a round of green flag pit stops with 54 laps to go, Truex, Jr. felt a vibration and was force to pit for a loose wheel, putting him down a lap. Truex, Jr. managed to get back on the lead lap late in the race, but by then was out of contention for the win.

After losing the lead, Kyle Busch would fall out of the top five but managed to fight his way back and took over the top spot on lap 231. Just four laps later, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr, brought out the caution flag for the fifth time on the night, but Busch and crew chief Adam Stevens elected to not to pit, holding onto that valuable lead-off spot.

Following a late-race caution for a synchronous spins by Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin – which also collected Joey Logano and Kyle Larson – Busch again bypassed pit road and held the lead for the restart with 20 laps to go.

Busch took the green flag on the outside line with Matt Kenseth underneath and Harvick and Kurt Busch right behind, with Busch getting a jump on the high side and pulling Harvick along with him. By the time the field came around to the backstretch, Kyle Busch, Harvick and Kenseth had settled in single-file out in front. Kurt Busch would eventually power past Kenseth on the outside to take third.

Kyle Busch holds off Kevin Harvick for his third win of the season

Robert Laberge/NASCAR via Getty Images

With 10 laps to go, Harvick had finally reeled in Kyle Busch and closed to within inches of Busch's bumper, but Kyle Busch was able to hold him off and quickly began to opening up a gap as Harvick's started to fade in the closing laps, losing out by more than three car-lengths as they crossed the finish line.

"For whatever reason I got tight, I hit a big piece of debris down there about six or seven laps into the run, from that point on I just got really tight, otherwise I would have drove around him," said Harvick. "All in all, it just didn't play out that way and they were able to win the race."

Kurt Busch would finish third behind his little brother, while Matt Kenseth held on for fourth. Rookie Ryan Blaney came home fifth for his best finish of the season and just the second top-five of his career. Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Elliott and Keselowski rounded out the top ten finishers.

The top four in points remain unchanged, with Harvick out in front, followed by Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards. Kurt Busch moved up one spot to fifth in the standings.

Race Results

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